Former EA Exec: “Traditional Gaming is Under a Little Bit of Pressure”

May 3, 2012
Written by Alex Osborn

John Schappert, former executive at Electronic Arts recently shared his thoughts on the future of gaming, noting that more traditional experiences are beginning to feel the pressure from the rapidly growing bite-sized casual market.

Schappert, who now works at Zynga (go figure) has made it clear that he believes that app-based mobile gaming is the way of the future, leaving traditional big-budget console experiences trailing behind in the past. In and interview with MCV, he elaborated on his controversial stance, saying:

Traditional gaming is under a little bit of pressure. If those businesses are not ready and want to live in the traditional world, they can. It’s just there’s only going to be a few big games a year. If you’re one of those games, more power to you. If you’re not, it’s going to be tough.

He went on to add that because so many of these console experiences require such a large budget and massive amounts of time, it’s going to grow increasingly more difficult for these types of experiences to stay relevant.

Big console games take years to make. They need massive budgets and you have to hope the bet you started three years ago pays out. If it doesn’t, it’s a game changer for you. And not in a good way. Is there still a market for it? Absolutely.

Traditional games have become more core. They require an expensive console, use a controller which laymen are afraid of, and their interfaces are not always the easiest to use.

While Schappert brings up a few valid points, I’m sure many gamers are quite adverse to his thinking. Sound off with your thoughts on his statements in the comments below.